Update 5-2-06

Hello,

This week's mail:

The annual letter from South's awards coordinator Liz King Giordano:  I'm pleased to inform you that our Senior High Awards Assembly will take place on Wednesday, June 7, 2006, at 7:30 PM, and the committee is in the process of selecting recipients for The Vince Tampio Memorial Scholarship and The Booker Gibson Music Award.  We welcome your choice of presenters for the formal announcement and presentation that evening.  Please contact me with this information at your earliest convenience.  I look forward to hearing from you.
   
    [Rich -- I wrote both Booker Gibson and Linda Tobin Kettering, who presented the awards last year, to confirm their availability.  Linda said she still had her speeches saved from last year, so I guess she's ready.  And Booker wrote what follows.]
   
    From Booker Gibson:  Thanks for asking again.  As long as somebody like Linda can do the main part, I should be there.  Currently, I've had a troublesome time walking or sometimes even standing.  Many doctors have been examining and treating me.  The overall opinion seems to be:  age, arthritis, and spinal something or other.  I'll keep walking a bit.
   
    [Rich -- our best, of course, to Booker.  I suspect that we hope he'll not only be walking, but occasionally dancing, too.  I also hope that the seats at the awards assembly somehow get a little softer.  If anyone would like to quilt some cushions for Booker and Linda, I'm sure the donation would be welcomed.  And if other people want to attend the ceremony, now you know the date and time.  As mentioned before, the money for this year's scholarships has been raised, and I actually had to ask a few people to hold their donations till next year as several others generously overdonated.]
   
    A nice tribute to casting director Amy Lieberman '68, in April 19th's BackStagewest, a Los Angeles trade paper:  It seems anyone who mentions Amy Lieberman speaks of her admiringly, even adoringly.  She is known as the actor's friend, an ally the community can count on to conduct professional, supportive, honest casting sessions.  She enthusiastically greets all actors she is auditioning, she sweetly bucks up those she has to turn down, and she joyously applauds the others at opening nights.  Lieberman knows Los Angeles actors.  She shows an unerring eye for casting type and casting against type.  Just as casting directors admire actors for making strong choices, she surprises us with the depth and breadth of hers.  Her hand has been seen in many productions to date.  Jointly cast by Lieberman and Bernard Telsey, The Drowsy Chaperone was an artistic triumph on all levels.  Most audiences and critics agreed that among the highlights of Lewis and Clark Reach the Euphrates was the casting.  Currently onstage, iWitness features a knockout ensemble.  And the highlight of Dead End was the casting, particularly of local actors and of University of Southern California students.
   
    Speaking of casting, my mother was cleaning out an old desk and found her program from Vince Tampio's production of Damn Yankees from the fall of 1964.  Among the student credits:
    Cast
   
    Joe Boyd                     Kenneth Krentz
    Meg Boyd                    Carol Kauderer
    Mr. Applegate               Barnet Kellman
    Sister                          Carol Hoffman
    Doris                           Deborah Davis
    Joe Hardy                    Gene Barkin
    Van Buren                   Paul Zegler
    Rocky                         David Klatell
    Smokey                      Robert Brashears
    Vernon                        Philip Schack
    Sohovik                       Greg Kaplan
    Henry                          David Pizzimenti
    Gloria                          Judy Schulman
    Welch                         Marc Goldberg
    Lynch                         Peter Christiansen 
    Lola                            Linda Passaro
    Miss Weston               June Forbes
    Mickey                        Neil Guberman
    Teenager                     Linda Ziegler
    Commissioner             Jeffrey Edelson
    Postmaster                 Allen Moss
    Little Boy                    Gilbert Sample
   
    Girls' chorus:              Judy Alerhand, Roseanne Concillo, Lauralee Erickson, Bonnie
                                     Fishman, Peggy Grubmeyer, Sharon Hoenig, Jessica Kellman, Carol
                                     Roshiepre, Carol Severino, Dorothy Wunderle, Virginia Wunderle
   
    Crew
   
    Stage                           William Brady, James Holecek, Daniel Bart, Marcia Baskin, Mary
                                       Brady, Gene Connelly, Terry Fox, Joan Kass, Harvey Melnick, Paul
                                       Stewart
    Lighting                        Charles Gleichmann, Arthur Grand
    Set Design                   Richard Eisbrouch 
    Posters                        Nancy Garfield
    Costumes                    June Forbes, Eve Londner
    Props                           Naomi Stein, Karen Stagg
    Make-Up                      Deborah Davis 
    Tickets                         Richard Mertz
    Student Accompanist    Heather Davis
    Assistant Director         Phyllis Janoff
   
    The orchestra director was John Leachey, and the rehearsal accompanist was Booker Gibson.
   
   
    Finally, as some of you know, South High recently adopted a new motto:

    Scholarship Ongoing Unity Tradition Heritage

    Obviously, a kind of acrostic.  But one of our graduates accidentally overlooked this and pointed out, not without merit, that ongoing isn't the same part of speech as the other four words.  The suggested replacement:  Continuity.  And while the words were being rethought, it was suggested that the proper sequence should be:  Scholarship Continuity Tradition Unity Heritage.

    So it turns out we went to Sctuh High School.